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Procopius of Caesarea

(c. 551)

''Lawyer and historian.''

''Wrote an 8 book history of the wars of Emperor Justinian I.''

''Greek.''

(The Persian Wars Book I)

XIX

From the city of Auxomis to the Aegyptian boundaries of the Roman
domain, where the city called Elephantine is situated, is a journey of
thirty days for an unencumbered traveller. Within that space many
nations are settled, and among them the Blemyes and the Nobatae, who are
very large nations. But the Blemyes dwell in the central portion of the
country, while the Nobatae possess the territory about the River Nile.
Formerly this was not the limit of the Roman empire, but it lay beyond
there as far as one would advance in a seven days' journey; but the
Roman Emperor Diocletian came there, and observed that the tribute from
these places was of the smallest possible account, since the land is at
that point extremely narrow (for rocks rise to an exceedingly great
height at no great distance from the Nile and spread over the rest of
the country), while a very large body of soldiers had been stationed
there from of old, the maintenance of which was an excessive burden upon
the public; and at the same time the Nobatae who formerly dwelt about
the city of Oasis used to plunder the whole region; so he persuaded
these barbarians to move from their own habitations, and to settle along
the River Nile, promising to bestow upon them great cities and land both
extensive and incomparably better than that which they had previously
occupied. For in this way he thought that they would no longer harass
the country about Oasis at least, and that they would possess themselves
of the land given them, as being their own, and would probably beat off
the Blemyes and the other barbarians. And since this pleased the
Nobatae, they made the migration immediately, just as Diocletian
directed them, and took possession of all the Roman cities and the land
on both sides of the river beyond the city of Elephantine. Then it was
that this emperor decreed that to them and to the Blemyes a fixed sum of
gold should be given every year with the stipulation that they should no
longer plunder the land of the Romans. And they receive this gold even
up to my time, but none the less they overrun the country there. Thus it
seems that with all barbarians there is no means of compelling them to
keep faith with the Romans except through the fear of soldiers to hold
them in check. And yet this emperor went so far as to select a certain
island in the River Nile close to the city of Elephantine and there
construct a very strong fortress in which he established certain temples
and altars for the Romans and these barbarians in common, and he settled
priests of both nations in this fortress, thinking that the friendship
between them would be secure by reason of their sharing the things
sacred to them. And for this reason he named the place Philae. Now both
these nations, the Blemyes and the Nobatae, believe in all the gods in
which the Greeks believe, and they also reverence Isis and Osiris, and
not least of all Priapus. But the Blemyes are accustomed also to
sacrifice human beings to the sun. These sanctuaries in Philae were kept
by these barbarians even up to my time, but the Emperor Justinian
decided to tear them down. Accordingly Narses, a Persarmenian by birth,
whom I have mentioned before as having deserted to the Romans, being
commander of the troops there, tore down the sanctuaries at the
emperor's order, and put the priests under guard and sent the statues to
Byzantium. But I shall return to the previous narrative.

'''Selected editions'''

Procopius, History of the Wars, Books I and II (of 8) The Persian War, ed. H. B. Dewing (London: 1914).

[[Category:Literary Sources]]
[[Category:Occidental]]

Procopius of Caesarea - Revision history

Adam Simmons: Created page with "Procopius of Caesarea (c. 551) ''Lawyer and historian.'' ''Wrote an 8 book history of the wars of Emperor Justinian I.'' ''Greek.'' (The Persian Wars Book I) XIX From ..."